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AP upset archive

Biggest College Football Upsets of 2004

The season's 25 strongest AP-defined upsets, led by the quality of the ranked team defeated and the game-time ranking gap.

25

Upsets ranked

14

Unranked winners

0

Market-confirmed

Top 25 AP upsets

  1. Historic upsetWeek 10Home

    Unranked North Carolina 31, No. 4 Miami 28

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 44/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    88

    AP score

  2. Historic upsetWeek 12Home

    Unranked Michigan State 49, No. 4 Wisconsin 14

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 44/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    88

    AP score

  3. Historic upsetPostseasonRoad

    No. 24 Texas Tech 45, No. 4 California 31

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 40/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    84

    AP score

  4. Historic upsetWeek 10Home

    Unranked Maryland 20, No. 5 Florida State 17

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 42/50 · Rank gap 42/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    84

    AP score

  5. Historic upsetWeek 6Home

    Unranked Virginia Tech 19, No. 6 West Virginia 13

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 40/50 · Rank gap 40/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    80

    AP score

  6. Historic upsetWeek 6Home

    Unranked Northwestern 33, No. 7 Ohio State 27

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 38/50 · Rank gap 38/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    76

    AP score

  7. Historic upsetWeek 13Home

    Unranked Ohio State 37, No. 7 Michigan 21

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 38/50 · Rank gap 38/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    76

    AP score

  8. Major upsetWeek 7Road

    No. 17 Tennessee 19, No. 3 Georgia 14

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 46/50 · Rank gap 28/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    74

    AP score

  9. Major upsetWeek 3Home

    Unranked Notre Dame 28, No. 8 Michigan 20

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 36/50 · Rank gap 36/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    72

    AP score

  10. Major upsetWeek 11Road

    Unranked Notre Dame 17, No. 9 Tennessee 13

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 34/50 · Rank gap 34/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    68

    AP score

  11. Major upsetWeek 13Road

    Unranked Florida 20, No. 10 Florida State 13

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 32/50 · Rank gap 32/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    64

    AP score

  12. Major upsetWeek 4Home

    No. 14 Auburn 10, No. 5 LSU 9

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 42/50 · Rank gap 18/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    60

    AP score

  13. Major upsetWeek 11Road

    Unranked Clemson 24, No. 11 Miami 17

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 30/50 · Rank gap 30/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    60

    AP score

  14. Major upsetWeek 8Road

    No. 10 Wisconsin 20, No. 5 Purdue 17

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 42/50 · Rank gap 10/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    52

    AP score

  15. Major upsetWeek 7Road

    No. 24 LSU 24, No. 12 Florida 21

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 28/50 · Rank gap 24/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    52

    AP score

  16. Major upsetWeek 3Road

    Unranked Fresno State 45, No. 13 Kansas State 21

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 26/50 · Rank gap 26/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    52

    AP score

  17. Major upsetWeek 13Home

    No. 17 Iowa 30, No. 9 Wisconsin 7

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 34/50 · Rank gap 16/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    50

    AP score

  18. Major upsetWeek 12Road

    No. 18 Miami 31, No. 10 Virginia 21

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 32/50 · Rank gap 16/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    48

    AP score

  19. Major upsetWeek 3Home

    No. 5 Miami 16, No. 4 Florida State 10

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 44/50 · Rank gap 2/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    46

    AP score

  20. UpsetWeek 8Home

    No. 7 Florida State 36, No. 6 Virginia 3

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 40/50 · Rank gap 2/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    42

    AP score

  21. UpsetWeek 12Road

    No. 21 Boston College 36, No. 13 West Virginia 17

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 26/50 · Rank gap 16/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    42

    AP score

  22. UpsetWeek 4Home

    Unranked Arizona State 44, No. 16 Iowa 7

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 20/50 · Rank gap 20/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    40

    AP score

  23. UpsetWeek 10Home

    Unranked Baylor 35, No. 16 Texas A&M 34

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 20/50 · Rank gap 20/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    40

    AP score

  24. UpsetWeek 15Road

    No. 10 Virginia Tech 16, No. 9 Miami 10

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 34/50 · Rank gap 2/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    36

    AP score

  25. UpsetWeek 6Home

    Unranked Louisiana Tech 28, No. 17 Fresno State 21

    AP evidence · primary

    Opponent strength 18/50 · Rank gap 18/50

    Market evidence · supporting

    No betting line · Pregame win chance

    36

    AP score

How the ranking works

An upset qualifies only when the winner was unranked or ranked below an AP Top 25 opponent at kickoff. Regular-season games use that game's AP poll week; postseason games use the last regular-season AP poll before bowl and playoff results. The 100-point score splits evenly between defeated-opponent strength and ranking gap. Betting lines and pregame win probability are shown separately as supporting evidence and never change the AP score, so missing market data cannot lower a game.